22 in Philadelphia

Suicide has to be one of the most difficult subjects to cover as a journalist. A couple of great pieces come to mind:
And this documentary by Eric Steel: http://www.thebridge-themovie.com/new/index.html (filmed in part by some good friends from jschool)
The Dart Center is offering a FREE training on covering this issue. More information here http://dartcenter.org/covering-suicide-workshop and below. -Mia
___________________________

CALLING REPORTERS, EDITORS, NEWS MANAGERS! 

FREE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITY!


Journalists don’t often imagine themselves faced with covering a suicide. But in the last year alone suicides of celebrities and public figures, college students and teens, soldiers and veterans, have challenged reporters, news organizations and the public alike to make sense of what happened, how it might have been prevented, and what best newsroom practices should be.


The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma invites you to attend a FREE professional training workshop on covering suicide September 21-22 in Philadelphia.

This workshop — the first of its kind —
will feature local and national mental health researchers and policy experts, award-winning journalists and suicide prevention advocates to address the challenging topic of suicide. It is geared towards journalists on a range of beats, including:

– Criminal justice

– Military and veterans affairs

– Education and youth

– Health

– Obituaries

– Investigative and special-projects teams


This workshop is also designed for editors, producers and other newsroom leaders, with five spaces reserved for college journalists and/or campus media advisors.

Speakers include national and local public health and clinical experts from Columbia, Harvard, Temple and Florida State; trainers from the Poynter Institute and award-winning reporters with New York magazine, Salon.com, Rolling Stone, WHYY and beyond.


Workshop
participants will be eligible to apply for $500-$1500 reporting grants being offered by the Dart Center and Scattergood Foundation.

 

Program and registration details can be found at: http://dartcenter.org/covering-suicide-workshop

Feel free to forward this invitation to colleagues who may be interested.

Questions? Email me directly at kate.black@dartcenter.org


This program is made
possible by funding from the Scattergood Foundation for Behavioral Health and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Wick Magazine Call for Collaborators

Here's an interesting new digital media project. They're especially interested in pushing the online magazine format to incorporate more audio storytelling. Their website doesn't have any content yet, but there's an email address below to contact if you're interested in getting involved. -Mia ________________________


WICK MAGAZINE


The Project:


“Wick” is a new digital multimedia magazine with the beta issue now under development. Envisioned for the web and iPad, the magazine will be a platform for creative storytellers to push their work to unconventional places, with particular emphasis on experimental media formats. We believe that different media can be purposefully woven together to tell stories in original and illuminating ways.


Our goal is to empower a new generation of writers, photographers, audio and video producers, animators, designers, artists, and other storytellers who want to expand the boundaries of their work to other media. We want to foster collaboration between creative camps that are too often isolated from one another.


Our plan for the final months of 2012 is to build our team and to curate a set of stories for our beta issue, the theme of which will be “Streets and Roads.” After releasing the issue, we will be looking to attract funds and partnerships that will help us continue the project on a continuing basis.


A Call for Collaborators:


We are looking for people passionate about the future of digital storytelling to join our team and help us create the beta issue of Wick. If you’re interested in any of the roles mentioned below, please email us at info@wickmag.com.

  • Coders / Designers: We need creative, tech-savvy people versed in designing for web and iOS who want in on the ground floor of a new publication. This is not a call for people to work under heavy direction, but an invitation to be true collaborators and founding partners.

  • Editors: We are looking for a few key editors who want to help curate different sections of the magazine, edit copy, and work with contributors to come up with new and creative ways to add to their stories. The beta issue will be an open and collaborative project. Editors will be welcome to contribute to the issue.

  • Contributors: Of course all the design, planning, and ideas for our magazine are nothing without the actual stories! We invite anyone to pitch us with ideas that they would like to contribute to Wick. While we are looking primarily for stories that can be tied to the beta issue’s theme of “Streets and Roads,” we want people to feel free to submit other great ideas that may inspire themes for future issues. Although we will not define rigid sections, we are looking for journalism/nonfiction, fiction, poetry, photography, video, audio, and graphic storytelling. All pitches should cover the basics of the story, what different media you want to write/produce it in, and how you want to integrate the media. We also invite people to submit a piece or idea with the intention of finding a collaborator to expand the project. As we put our core team together, it may take a little bit of time to respond to all submissions, but rest assured you will hear back from us.

deadline TODAY

I missed the boat on this one since the late, late, late deadline is today, but good to put on the calendar for the future. More info here: http://www.paleycenter.org/paleydocfest2012-call-for-entries-pitch-workshop-contesthttp://www.paleycenter.org/paleydocfest2012-call-for-entries-pitch-workshop-contest

Call for Entries: PaleyDocFest Pitch Workshop Contest

For the 2012

The PaleyDocFest Pitch Contest offers a $5,000 grant for an unfinished or work-in-progress documentary from an emerging filmmaker.

The Paley Center for Media is using this contest, now in its ninth year, to choose five finalists who will pitch their unfinished films to a panel of experts and producers in front of an audience. This event, the PaleyDocFest Pitch Workshop, will take place on Saturday, October 20, 2012, in New York as part of the Paley Center's annual documentary festival.

To Enter Pitch Contest:

To enter this contest, you must submit no more than ten minutes of footage from an UNFINISHED or WORK-IN-PROGRESS feature-length documentary that you hope to pitch to our panel. You must also send in a printed and filled-out entry form (below.)

We will judge entries based on the originality of your vision and the viability of the concept. At the pitch workshop, finalists will be judged by originality, viability and the persuasiveness of their pitch to our panel.

Deadlines to Enter:

Entries must be postmarked by deadline. Deadlines and fees are as follows:

• Earlybird Deadline: August 1, 2012 ($25 regular submission fee / 

   $20 for Withoutabox members submitting through Withoutabox)

• Regular Deadline: August 15, 2012 ($30 / $25 for Withoutabox members)

• Late Deadline: August 29, 2012 ($35 / $30 for Withoutabox members)

Special Extended Deadline

September 5, 2012 ($45 / $35 for Withoutabox members)

Withoutabox Extended Deadline

September 12, 2012 ($55 / $40 for Withoutabox members) 

There Are Two Ways to Submit Your Entry:

 

1) We accept entries through Withoutabox.

OR

2) To submit on your own, download the following PDF forms.

Overview |  Official Rules |  Entry Form & Submission Agreement

Then print out, sign, and mail a complete and fully executed copy of the Entry Form & Submission Agreement, along with your DVD, submission materials, and a check for your entry fee made out to The Paley Center for Media to:

Pitch Workshop

c/o The Paley Center for Media 

9th Floor 

25 West 52 Street 

New York, NY 10019
 

PREVIOUS WINNERS
2011: The View from Bellas Luces directed by Christa Boarini

2010: Charge directed by Mike Plunkett
2009: From Texas to Tehran directed by Till Schauder

2008: Circo directed by Aaron Schock

2007: The House that Herman Built directed by Angad Bhalla 

2006: Whatever it Takes directed by Christopher Wong 

2005: Asparagus! (A Stalk-umentary) directed by Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly

  

FREE Radio Festival! Sat. Sept. 22 near NYC! Yay!!!

From two of the most talented ladies in radio production – a FREE festival in NYC, Sept 22. Some amazing folks presenting. Details below!

-mia
_____________________________

 

Sally Herships and I have some exciting news!  We've put together a *FREE* day-long radio festival at Sarah Lawrence College.  SLC has been gracious enough to open it to everyone and we'd love for you to join us.   So many esteemed people will be presenting!  Amy O'Leary, NYTimes; Ashley Milne-Tyte; The Broad Experience Podcast; Ellen Horne, Radiolab; Jonathan Mitchell, The Truth Podcast; Rob Rosenthal, HowSound, Transom Story Workshop; and Gwen Macsai and Johanna Zorn from Third Coast! 


Also, did we mention it was…* FREE?!*

 

WHEN/WHERE

*Saturday, September 22*

11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m

Sarah Lawrence College 

1Mead Way  

Bronxville, NY 10708


Sarah Lawrence College is just
 a short, half-hour train ride from Grand Central (Taxis there will take you to SLC for $5.) Please RSVP if possible,  at sarahlawrenceradio@gmail.com.  Just put "Yes, I'm coming  and so excited!" in the subject line. If you have any questions, feel free to email us there as well.

 

Yay for Radio!

Ann Heppermann and Sally Herships


PROGRAM


Amy O'Leary, the NY Times – Multimedia – The Sound and the Blurry

11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m.

Heimbold 210

How do you marry a strong audio narrative to an equally strong visual narrative for the best possible storytelling? In today's world almost all content creators are being asked to produce on a variety of platforms. This is a skill vital for everyone from photographers to writers -almost anyone interested in creating media on a digital platform today. By examining stunning audio-visual collaborations and some cringe-inducing disasters, this session will deliver a set of ready tips, tricks, and best practices for making multimedia projects both sing and shine.

Print and radio journalist Amy O'Leary has produced for a wide range of pub radio programs including This American Life and Radiolab. She's now a reporter at the New York Times. 

Ashley Milne-Tyte, The Broad Experience: Women Take Control of the Mic

11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Heimbold 211

Ashley Milne-Tyte will talk about stories focused on women (and reactions to those stories), women hosts in radio and podcasting and what led her to start her own podcast. She'll play a few of her stories about women and girls and parts of her podcast.

Journalist Ashley Milne-Tyte is host and producer of The Broad Experience– a new podcast that brings thoughtful, intelligent conversation – and a little attitude – to the subject of WOMEN AND THE WORKPLACE Milne-Tyte’s work has appeared in print in The New York Daily News, the Independent, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal and her radio pieces have been aired on Marketplace, WNYC, NPR, The World and the BBC.

Ellen Horne, Radiolab, Radiolab, the Secret Sauce

12:30 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.

Donnelley Auditorium, room 202

Radiolab executive Producer Ellen Horne will talk about process – the mysterious recipe and ingredients for one of the most magical shows in public radio.

Rob Rosenthal, What the hell is a story, anyway?

2:30-3:50 p.m.

Heimbold 210

Radio producers are in the storytelling business, right? But that begs the question, what the hell is a story? Rob will unpack some of the mystery surrounding story including tips on how to focus and organize a piece. And he'll offer some thoughts on how to tell a story when you don't have one!

Rob Rosenthal is an independent producer and a teacher. He’s the producer of How Sound, a bi-weekly podcast on radio storytelling for the Public Radio Exchange, prx.org. Rosenthal ran the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies’ radio track for 11 years and is now the lead instructor at the Transom Story Workshop.

Jonathan Mitchell – Fiction on the Radio

2:30 p.m.-3:50 p.m.

Heimbold 211

Writing for radio requires a whole different way of thinking than print. Wanna know how to do it? One hint – Mitchell works with improvisational actors and looks for unusual ways of using the recording studio to create dramatic fiction.

Jonathan Mitchell is executive producer of The Truth, a podcast that creates and presents movies for your ears — short dramatic fiction that feels like a film, but without the pictures. He's contributed a wide range of pieces—documentaries, fictional stories, non-narrated sound collages, and original music—to programs such as Radiolab, Studio 360, This American Life, Hearing Voices, Fair Game, The Next Big Thing, and All Things Considered. His work has won many awards, including the Peabody, the Golden Reel, and the Gold Mark Time Award for Best Science Fiction Audio. He lives in New York City.

Johanna Zorn and Gwen Mascai, Third Coast – News Can Sound Beautiful

4:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

Donnelley Auditorium, room 202

It’s rare that the concepts of “news,” “beauty,” and “innovation” go hand in hand, but when they do… it’s something to behold (with your ears!) Third Coast’s Gwen Macsai and Johanna Zorn will share audio stories that offer inspiration to producers who want to report on the world while deploying radio to its fullest, sound-rich

potential.

Based in Chicago, the Third Coast International Audio Festival curates sound-rich audio stories from around the world and shares them with as many ears as possible – on the radio, on the Internet (thirdcoastfestival.org), and at public listening events. Third Coast also hosts an annual competition and biennial conference, offering producers and listeners a multitude of ways to celebrate audio storytelling.

call-out for submissions Carte Blanche, deadline Sept 15

I'm not too familiar with this organization but it looks interesting and they take submissions of all kinds – print, audio, photography, etc. Check them out! Details below. – Mia

http://carte-blanche.org/submissions/

SUBMISSIONS

Guidelines for contributors

At carte blanche we believe there is more than one way to tell a story. Our mandate is to provide a venue for narrative of all forms from fiction and nonfiction, to poetry and photo essays.

carte blanche is published twice a year, in the spring and the fall.

How to submit

We accept original, previously unpublished submissions through our  online submission form ONLY. See carte-blanche.submishmash.com/submit for instructions. If you have problems using our submission form, please send us an email

Deadlines

Spring issue – March 1st (May publication)
Fall issue – September 15th (November publication)

Our reviewing period is in the few weeks following each deadline date. We do not accept new submissions during this period. Come back after our issue launch to submit for the next issue.

How to format

Text should be in Word and double-spaced (except poetry). We like it if you use Verdana 10 pt as your font.

The first page of each submission must include the author’s name, the name of the piece, its length, the category of submission, and a short bio. Each page should be numbered and include a header or footer with the name of the piece and author name. If you are submitting more than one piece, please upload each poem, story or file separately. Make it easy for us!

Simultaneous submissions: We accept simultaneous submissions. Please indicate on your cover page if you are sending your piece elsewhere and notify us immediately if it is accepted somewhere else.

Rights: We ask for first world serial rights and the right to archive your work on the website. Copyright reverts to the author upon publication.

Paymentcarte blanche pays a modest honorarium per submission. We hope to increase the amount in the future.

What to send

Fiction and Nonfiction

We like narrative: a story that moves from some kind of a beginning to some kind of an end, be it short fiction, memoir, personal essay or literary journalism. If it’s well written and tells a story, we’ll consider it.

Word limit: 3500 words; maximum of two prose submissions per author per issue; each submission must be on a separate document and uploaded separately.

Poetry

Send us your best work.  From odes and haikus to free verse and sonnets, we welcome poems in any form.  Limit: 3 poems per person per submission round. Please upload each poem separately.

Translations

We accept English translations of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction written originally in French. If possible, please include the original work on which the translation is based. If we like your piece and choose to publish it, you will be required to provide proof of permission from the copyright holder of the original work to translate and publish the translation. Obtaining permission can take time, so please do so before you submit!

Graphic fiction

Along with your work, please include a brief overview of what the piece is about. If your work is selected for publication, we will contact you for a high-res version.  Final submissions must be in JPG, GIF, or PNG format.

Photography

Tell a story in 12 photos or fewer. Together, your photos should create a narrative – whether abstract or concrete – and have something to say.

Send a Word or PDF doc with your work pasted in it and include a statement, captions, and any other relevant text. If your work is selected for publication, we will contact you for a high-res version of the photo essay. Final submissions must be in JPG or PNG format.

Audio

Tell us a story in sound. This can include soundscape, documentary, spoken word, author readings, comedy, experimental, etc. Audio pieces do not need to contain words (although they can!) but they should have a

narrative progression, i.e. a beginning, middle, and end. 5 minute max per piece, submissions should be mp3 or wav files.

~ ~ ~

Now, time to use our handy online submission form!

Once you have registered, created an account, and uploaded your work, you can come back to check your status. Our reviewing period is in the few weeks following each deadline date (once in the spring, once in the fall). Depending on when you submit, please allow enough time for us to process the submissions and make our decisions. During this period we will be closed for submissions. Come back after our issue launch to submit again for the next issue.

Please keep in mind that we are a largely volunteer organization and that we have limited resources and time. But we will look at your work. Promise.

KDMC Multimedia Fall 2012 Workshop Series

These workshops are not to be missed. Details below! -mia
__________________________

Multimedia Storytelling Series

The kdmcBerkeley Fall 2012 Multimedia Storytelling Series is brought to you by the world's premier center for applied digital communications. All workshops are led by UC Berkeley lecturers and staff, with presentations from award-winning faculty and industry leaders to give you the skills to distinguish you as an expert in digital media.

Video Storytelling

October 11-13, 2012
Learn from master storytellers techniques for capturing the attention of your audience to create engaging videos. This intensive three-day workshop is an immersion in digital video storytelling, providing hands-on video training in every phase of planning, production and digital delivery. This workshop delivers the same world-class training the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism provides its graduate students.

Register Today

Social Media for Audience Engagement

October 22-23, 2012
Beyond expanding the pool of possible connections to near limitless possibilities, social media is reshaping how we communication, learn, entertain ourselves, participate in politics and public life, search for new employees, transact business, and company-consumer relationships. Join us for two days of comprehensive training on how to leverage the power of social media and storytelling to develop audiences, trust relationships and engagement.

Register Today

Data Driven Maps

November 16-17, 2012
Data driven maps are an effective visual tool to communicate ideas, explain complex concepts, illustrate relationships or tell a story with data. This two-day workshop is a hands-on program focused on applying Geographical Information Systems (GIS) tools to visualize data with industry standard techniques. Participants will learn to use publicly available map files and data to build layered and informative maps that are easy to understand and fun to view.

Register Today

Visual Essentials for Content Creators

December 10-14, 2012
Communications professionals, journalists and educators seeking a rapid-paced immersive experience in best practices for telling stories on the web with video, photos and data will benefit from this workshop. This intensive one-week production course focuses on the art and craft of digital storytelling and features hands-on practical skills training.

Register Today

To learn more please contact:
Vicki Hammarstedt
+1.510.642.3892
Http://kdmc.berkeley.edu

This American Life Mini-Theme List

From the good folks at TAL. Pitch away! -mia
_______________________________

Dear This American Life friends and contributors,
This is Brian Reed writing, a producer here at TAL. Thanks so much for your responses to the last theme list. We're working on another show for early October, and we'd love to hear any pitches and ideas you have for it. Right now we're considering two themes for this show, and it could go either way depending on the stories we get. Even though the themes are similar, they might spark different kinds of ideas so I wanted to send out both for your consideration. Here they are:

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS
Why do bad things always seem to happen all at once? And good things too? In either case, how are you supposed to deal with it all? We have one piece for this show where a comedian who's just had a string of horrible things happen to her — including getting diagnosed with cancer — goes on stage in front of a live audience and cracks jokes about all of it. We have another story about a guy who has a lot of misfortune befall him and then gets caught in a very strange and cathartic situation…in an actual rainstorm. We're looking for more stories about people who come up with inventive and surprising ways to deal with a barrage of misfortune. Or fortune. In fact, we're particularly interested in stories about lots of good things happening to someone, since we already have stories about negative things. And it doesn't only need to be about individual people — it could be a story about an organization or a town or a school. Maybe a place that had so many good things happen to it at once, people were overwhelmed and didn't really deal with it so gracefully. A story about someone with a strange superstition that seems to affect his or her fortune could work in this show too.

WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU…
This show would be about people who've made it through incredibly trying and even life-threatening situations and emerged with an interesting or surprising take on what happened to them. The saying goes "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," but it seems like a lot of times if something doesn't kill you, you end up not necessarily stronger, but different, having come to some understanding about yourself that you didn't have before. We have one story for this show about a woman with a severe mental illness that gave her compulsions to ingest things — like nails and screws — that put her life in danger. She's well now, and talks about why it felt so satisfying to do things that were so damaging to her. Another story we're considering is about a guy who was shot in Chicago, who then made amends with his shooter and refused to rat on him to police. But stories for this show don't need to be about actual life-threatening situations. Relative hardship would work too — like a story about a kid who was picked on a lot, or someone who faced repeated rejection. These could even be funny stories. Or maybe there's a story about a person who's trying desperately to get rid of someone or something, but with every tactic they try the person or thing only seems to get stronger and more impossible to get rid of.

For these two themes only, please send your pitches directly to me at brian@thislife.org.

Also, we wanted to make one last request for anecdotes for our upcoming RED/BLUE show, which we included in our last theme list: We’re interested in your best examples of just how ridiculously toxic our political discourse has become – particularly in cases where friends and family members are at odds. Are there people who you (or your friends) no longer spend time with because of their political views? Plans that have been cancelled or friendships put on hold? In general, we’d welcome any stories that illustrate the inanity of the red/blue war through the toll it’s taken on personal relationships.

Please send pitches for RED/BLUE to TAL producer Lisa Pollak at lisa@thislife.org.

As always, many thanks for your pitches. We're very appreciative!